1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to manufacturing a sputtering target and manufacturing a transparent conductive film using the same, and more particularly, to an Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) target, a method for manufacturing the same, a transparent conductive film of ITO, and a method for manufacturing the transparent conductive film of ITO.
2. Description of Related Art
In general, an Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) film obtained by doping tin to Indium oxide may be employed as a electrode material of a solar cell and a Flat Panel Display (FPD) such as a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), Plasma Display Panel (PDP), Electro Luminescence Display (ELD), and the like. In particular, demands for the ITO dramatically increase due to the growth in the FPD market requiring the transparent electrode, and a crystalline ITO film having a relatively low resistivity may be generally used in the FPD. The crystalline ITO film having the relatively low resistivity is obtained by performing film deposition at a high temperature or performing a predetermined heat treatment thereon after performing the film deposition. However, the crystalline ITO film is etched (patterned) only using a strong acid such as aqua regia (a mixed solution of nitric acid and hydrochloric acid), which results in a disadvantage such that disconnection or the narrowed line width is caused due to corrosion of gate or data lines at the time of etching the ITO film using the strong acid.
In order to overcome the above disadvantage, a method for manufacturing an amorphous ITO film having superior etching characteristics has been suggested. Specifically, manufacturing the amorphous ITO film by adding hydrogen or water to an injection gas under a low temperature atmosphere at the time of thin film deposition, and etching the amorphous ITO film thus obtained with a weak acid may improve patterning characteristics, and prevent occurrence of the corrosion of the gate or data lines. However, this method also may incur occurrence of anomalous discharge due to the added hydrogen or water at the time of sputtering, which results in disadvantages that anomalous protrusions referred to as nodules are created on an ITO target, and an impurity aggregate is created causing generation of a local high-resistance region on the film. Also, problems such as deterioration in adherence and increase in contact resistance each between the film and the substrate, debris after etching, and the like may be created.
Also, an Indium Zinc Oxide (IZO) has been devised as a target material for manufacturing the amorphous film, which has superior characteristics as an amorphous film but has a relatively poor resistivity and transmittance and requires a relatively high cost in comparison with the ITO. In addition, the IZO having characteristics such as being melted even in an aluminum etching agent may encounter difficulties in a case where a reflection electrode is formed on the transparent electrode.